Drugs

No one ever said hashish will kill you that I have EVER heard.

For number three, why waste the money raised on addicts? They made the choice, so just give them a place to go to that they can be addicted and not be a threat to anyone else.

Legal drugs would cost less because you don't have to sneak everything into the country.

Legal drugs would raise state and federal "revenue" through excessive "sin taxes".

Crime would go down, because of no more "turf wars". (although the shootouts are the only way we keep the number of "gangsta-rappers" down! This is NOT an advantage.)

I'm giving up being upstanding...

Doesn't pay off.

Why? Because fighting it simply doesn't work. The billions spent on interdiction are seizing lots of it but so much more gets in that the quality is going up and the price is coming down.

We should try something else, if for no other reason than because this way isn't working.

I suggest putting the monies spent on interdiction be spent on rehab instead.

Soft drugs? That is like soft porn.

Either you're a wuss or or your unfulfilled.

Use the money...Heh, after the political dust settles it would be another underfunded budget buster.

Nobody quits untill they really want to and if your really want to you don't need therapy.
(voice of experience)

Putting users in prison doesn't make them stop using. It only delays the use...

To effectively deal with the drug problem, the powers that be will have to deal with the issues that drive, and encourage drug use but no politician that wants to keep his job will touch that issue.

And the same four potential solutions are always proposed. The issue never gains much steam in Congress. All of your proposed solutions have pros and cons. Why rock the boat and try to change the laws as they are now? I suppose it ends up more as a moral issue than one of logic.

Alcohol is a drug. Is marijuana so much worse than alcohol that it should remain illegal? Look at how many people are killed every year due to alcohol. The govt tried illegalizing alcohol once before. It didn't work.

Of your three solutions, I oppose #3 (legalize all and put all the new addicts in rehab) most because it would cost a whole lot more in dollars and ruined lives to rehab addicts than to prevent them from becoming addicted in the first place (through education and awareness programs). This solution is a lot like an engineering development project. It is much easier and cheaper to fix problems BEFORE they occur rather than after.

As a former user & a trained drugs counselor I totally disagree with your statements. There is a lot of difference between a quick toot on a bong & getting smacked out. Heroin & crack kill several people each year yet the death toll for cannabis users is virtually nil (admittedly there is the cancer risk & the idiots who get stoned then think they are Colin McRay).

Also, in my several years experience I have yet to have a pot smoker come to recieve counselling for serious abuse of the drug & I have had several smack heads for whom we were the last resort before death (& the success rate with them was incredibly low - as little as 1 in 10 not relapsing).

BTW - divine intervention may have helped you but lets remain grounded here - it was either an excellent support group of friends & family or pure outright luck.

First of all, I mananged to get over my 'hard drug' addiction,by myself because I simply woke up, LUCKILY, but not before losing a couple of friends and having quite a scare myself. The worst thing that can happen from a 'SOFT DRUG' overdose is you go to sleep or get fat from pigging out. Nobody has ever died in recorded history directly due to smoking pot. MILLIONS have died from voke, herion, PCP, Meth etc. and yes I've been there too, so don't feel too superior, many of us have f***ed up over time too, I'm certainly not proud of it though.

There is a MASSIVE and i mean HUMONGOUS difference in the effects and addictive nature of soft drugs when compared to hard drugs.

There is NO relation whatsoever to soft vs hard core porn. I have NEVER met a soft core watcher who felt suerior to a hard core watcher because of the content they prefer. Porn is porn, hard or soft, there's no underground issue as to what is and what isn't acceptable, news flash; I've worked and still work with MANy people in the porn industry too, it falls in line with my business.

So your comparisson is pure shite, once again. Your analogy that because you were a junkie and you THINK I'm a pothead is also pure BS, complete codswallop and you simply think you know better. Well, you dont so give it up, your analogy is crap and you should know it, unless of course you are still in denial.

Did someone jump on your hot button with both feet?

Not that I disagree with your assesment, but you seem quite steamed about this.

Most addicts I know, and I have done rehab work, as well as lived in buildings full of active users, do need serious help from a mental health professional. The problems with that is the help they need is not covered, and the mental health system causes problems of it's own.

Last week I called the mental health police unit as one neighbor under thier care needed dealing with, for his own safety, they said "We are to busy, call 911 instead" doesn't say much when the mental health team are overworked due to under funding does it.

"Of course they don't sell what we don't buy. You can not blame TV, Movies, Music"

now once I got off the floor and calmed my sore ribs down from laughing I must repeat, THEY DON'T SELL WHAT WE DON'T BUY??? LOL! :) Oh Mae, this brings tears to my eyes, the innocence is so sweet!

Music is 100% and I mean ENTIRELY controlled by the record companies. THEY decide what you buy, not YOU. Moreso th eyounger, and most impressionable audience than us old farts, but to suggest teen music is not 100% controlled by teh labels is simply laughable.

OUR KIDS BUY WHAT THEY ARE SOLD, NOT WHAT THEY WANT TO BUY.

I can give SO many examples, from personal experience, as you probably know too well. When I was younger, we did buy what we chose to buy, these days it is completely the other way around, kids are told what they want to buy, the radio stations are owned by teh companies that produce the albums, the record stores are owned by the companies that produce the albums, the kids are force fed what they are supposed to buy.

Otherwise it would be suggesting that today's teens decided that Enrique Iglasias was a hot purchase and they made him popular because he produced albums kids wanted to hear, my a$$!

Kids are force fed their fads these days, it's a fact, they (the big four) don't cater to the people, the people cater to the big four. Oh and for the record, teh big four also own the movie production companies (notice the force fed soundtracks these days), the network stations and news agencies too.

You want to live where the industry caters to the people? You need to cross the pond.

Declining morals and ethics are a factor in drug abuse. The root cause is the absence of a moral standard.

To articulate further, the absnce of God in our lives, thanks to whiny liberal weenies, has left us with out a moral standard and in that absence a culture that glorifies sex drugs and glutany has taken over and this culture is self destructive.

There has always been sin, there will always be sin. God gives us a way to recover, heal and do better in the future.

You have the ball, now run....

That's it on the head. Any hard drug users I have known were all people who were in need of help lond before getting into hard drugs.

Your thoughts on parental education are true too, but unfortunately you can just imagine the amount of Southern noise that would be raised by stepping on such personal liberties if people were forced to attend by court order.(long winded!)

It would also address many concerns raised by peers such as Max who understandably stand firm on people needing to accept personal responsibilities.

But too many bleeding hearts would object, it's too.....'socialist'? ;)

the drugs that the "native American" did. What do you think GAVE them their "visions"?

Go ask any native and they will tell you.

I just want to thank everybody involved in this discussion. Nearly every post is intelligent & well thought out (with the unintelligent posts still prompting reaction & further development from people). This is obviously a subject that affects many people.

I must say, I really enjoy the Tech Republic discussions. Please keep up the good work - gold stars to everyone...

"witch broomstick drugs" and read on...

]:)

Were you a nicer, more tolerant person before you were a 'head?

Just asking... :)

Either your sleeping it off or there is nothing to point out.

See ya aroud, it's been fun.

Due to the very creative gremlins who inhabit this website, this thread was posted twice and I missed it the first time around.

So here are my thoughts;

I think it has been demonstrated that prolonged use of marijuana can cause brain damage. I know of at least two friends whose mental capacity was noticeably impaired after prolonged, regular use.

Alcohol has, and always will be far more damaging to society that marijuana could ever hope to be. Alcohol causes violence, including and especially wife beating, fatal road accidents, absenteeism, huge medical costs and of course eventually destroys your liver.

Tobacco smoking is a primary cause of lung cancer, and of course emphysema.

The treatments for these diseases impose a considerable burden on the public purse.

Heroin does not in itself cause any physical damage. The other powder-like substances which are mixed with it for the purpose of profit can do seriously harm to the body.

Heroin, crack and other strong drugs are one of the major causes of violent crime and theft. Because they are illegal, the street price is grossly exaggerated and the quest for money to pay for these habits leads to robbery which in America especially is often accompanied by violence or murder because of the widespread acceptance of hand guns.

A former neighbour of mine who was a top medico told me that the actual cost of heroin was 40 cents a hit. It was the illegality which increased the price.

A particular clergyman in Sydney, The Rev Bill Crewes who was formerly director of the Crisis Centre at the Wayside Chapel, strongly advocates legalisation of heroin as the lessor of two evils as he has had so much personal contact with people who are addicted.

Cigarettes are highly taxed in Australia so that the high cost is possibly a partial deterrent from smoking.

The root evil of the problem as I see it is that the tobacco and alcohol industries are so huge that they have great lobbying power to influence and probably bribe politicians.

Crack, ecstasy and others seems to fall into a different category socially than heroin so these may need to be addressed differently.

So what would I recommend? Option 3.

Legalise all of them & let the money raised help those people who become addicted.

I think cigarettes and other tobacco products should carry a massive tax, which as with option (3) should go to help defray medical costs of people who develop serious illnesses because of use of these products.

I don't know what the situation is in the USA and Canada, but in Australia it has been many years now since advertisements for tobacco products have been totally banned, and I don't recall seeing any ads for alcohol in recent years. Tobacco and alcohol companies who sponsor sporting events are no longer permitted to display their banners at these events.

Incidentally although I have never used hard drugs, I have witnessed the whole scene from close range. What I didn't already know I learnt from a sweet young hooker with whom I had a close friendship.

She would regularly come to my room in the evening bearing goodies to eat, and we would have coffee and talk.

Sometimes she would lie down to have a sleep, asking me to wake her when it was time to go to "work."

Often after being awakened as requested, she would decide not to go to work and would sleep in my bed. As the night progressed, there would be compulsive twitches of her body and by morning she was really hanging out and would offer me sex for money. I would not agree to this as it would have corrupted the friendship in my eyes.